How you get your novels out there

[Maps]

Hey guys! Does anyone else solely promote their novel on Tapas? I do, and I'm glad to have nearly 75 subscriptions. But I wondered what other sites you use? Tumblr, twitter, facebook? I feel like I wouldn't promote my work on my personals... but is it worth creating a "creator" tumblr, twitter, or facebook to help promote a novel? Do you realize if it helps at all?

I've tried posting on Wattpad and A03 before, but Tapas has been the most rewarding with the best community so far. I actually took my work down from Wattpad and let the A03 folks know I moved to Tapas.

I also wonder if any of you are familiar with other sites that are mainly focused on novels, and if there's any that deal with more mature works.

THANKS YA'LL!

[spicy_sweets]

I mainly use twitter for games and writing events, and I have a just one pinned post for promos.

Tapas, I just hang in the forums and cross promote.

On another note, I was lucky enough to be promoted on staff picks. But idk how that's picked so can't help you there.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Simple: I didn't, I'm stuck.

Creating a creator's account is worth it, however. Especially when you want to separate your real life self (work, family, neighborhood) from the content you create. It's also more professional, private, and organized.

[Maps]

I think I’ve maybe crossed the line of maturity to be a staff pick . I’d hate to have to do a Patreon for my more mature pages, but if Tapas would give me a push maybe I would?

[Maps]

That’s exactly where I’m at. I don’t want my friends, family, or work to see my stuff. I’m different from most of them, I guess. But I think my friends would probably be more open minded than I give them credit for. I just get very bashful.
I seriously sometimes think of creating my own site for mature (18+) novel writers. And I’m not talking about smut, but stories that have actual plots with mature content, shamelessly. I feel like I have a good plot with mature themes and no where to really put it. Like, it’s not just sex for crowd pleasing. So I hope one day a site like this can come along .

[spicy_sweets]

?? Could you be more specific? I've seen plenty of novels in staff picked with mature chapters tho

[Maps]

Vows of the Sentinel | Tapas

Chapter 34 and 49 for example.

Honestly, I can be over-reacting. But I guess sometimes I feel weird posting my morbidly dark novel to a site that has youngsters too? So it makes me want to hold back. I’ve changed quite a bit of this story to fit more toward tapa’s needs.

[spicy_sweets]

I meann, from my understanding most of tapas community range from late highschoolers to adults. Have you seen the premium novels and comics? You're fine

[Maps]

Omg bless. And NO! I’m fairly new here
I’m so panicked. Thank you for dropping me from like 100 anxiety to 20 right now.
I mean I HAVE seen some but I guess when I’m writing it I feel more guilty in a way. I begin believing that they’ve written it more tamed but maybe I’m not finding the right stuff Lol. (SCREAAM)

[GesuGesu]

It helps if you already have a social circle to share your works with. I know that many people want to spend all their time working on their stories, but they also need to get out there and consider meeting their potential audience and supporters. Also, don't go out and socialize merely for the purpose of "making connections", but socialize genuinely to get to know people! That way, those people can also influence YOUR thinking so that you may end up writing with your shared tastes in mind, and naturally finding a wider audience that way.

Secondly, it's good to just do some fanworks in a few fanfiction communities. Offer short writing requests for popular fandoms if people thirst for that rare pair. The more samples you have for people to read through, the better an idea they have of your writing. I personally do NOT want to skim through your single long-form piece of writing to get a sense of who you are as a writer. I would like many different SHORT samples to check out, because that way I don't feel like I have to commit to reading and keeping up with a seemingly endless novel that I wasn't exactly interested in the first place.

[Maps]

Thanks for your input! I should probably branch out to some other fan communities.

I usually struggle with promoting since I feel... narcissistic???.. sometimes about pushing my stuff at others. But it's also motivational to have a growing audience and just feels so frickin good to share my story with others.

But I do love meeting people on Tapas and I think I'd enjoy being in similar communities

[QueenofBabyLoon]

I didn't even know you could publish original on AO3. I always used it as a fanfiction site. All the things you learn on Tapas

I understand that feeling of wondering whether you come across as narcissistic, self-centered and self-satisfied. I feel the line between wanting to give joy to people through literature and getting joy in return and believing oneself to be God's literary gift to humanity is so blurred.

@Kimoisempai actually said it all. You must be a fan of something yourself, there must be something that inspires you. So how about writing a fanfiction of it. There is no community more welcoming than the fanfiction community. It is mostly a reader's community, as opposed to a writer's community. People there care for you, genuinely. Having interests in common really gets them attached to you and you get attached to them just as quickly. One thing I do not agree however, is the length of the writing. I never wrote a chapter under 12 000 words for any of my fics (I actually have a 50 000-word chapter - yep, I am not kidding). And in the fanfiction word, I never got any reproaches (some friendly whining, maybe - but hey, they still read the 50 000 words) for it either. The truth is, people in the fanfiction community want more of characters they are already accustomed to. You giving them what they wish creates an emotional bond with them. And their appreciation makes you love them too. Once that special bond is created, you are pretty much friends and they will want to know what you do outside of fanfiction too.

Does it show I am mostly a fanfiction writer and don't event take my original work as seriously?!

[Maps]

That's good to know! I've never been one to read or write fanfiction, but I am open minded - especially if it's a good community!

And yes! You can post originals on A03, but it's literally not going to get seen
Most people just want their BTS fanfics on that site, and hey... that's alright!

[QueenofBabyLoon]

I have no idea what BTS is. I write for the Naruto fandom, for a very rare romance pairing, on both AO3 and fanfiction.net.

I get a great response on AO3, though my pairing, as I said, is completely obsolete now that the manga has wrapped up. People are lovely, invested, there for you. They want to get to know you as a person. You become one of the pack real quick. On fanfiction.net, I am swarmed! And I am not an amazing author, let me tell you. Since the readers are so invested in your work, they will promote you and for you. Self-promotion wasn't even a concept for me until I came here. I sometimes google my fanfiction penname for sh*ts and giggles, just to see how many people on Tumblr are recommending my fics and what their opinions are.

Fanfiction for the win!

[Maps]

Haha! I love it! I’ll have to give A03 another chance. Plus, I always loved that you can post new chapters on their site via mobile!

[iclryu]

Tapas has been my best experience hands down. Everyone is so nice and accepting. I went back to Wattpad after deleting it but only because it was my first server.

Some tips are tag, tag, tag like your life depends on it, and social media.

Tumblr:
Helped me a lot with promoting. Trick about tumblr is that the first five tags are the ones the system pays mind to. So tag your work with the best top five you can think of. Ex: Tapas, novel, [insert genere], etc.

Forums:
Coming on here and promoting in forums (that allow and ask you to promote) also works out. It's how I got subscribers really fast when I started here. I deleted my account, which was a mistake, but I'm doing the same stuff and climbing back up again with subscribers. So forums really help.

Twitter:
Look for the most popular writing tag and use that one, talk about writing. Being funny attracts people to check out your stuff. For tags, I use the recently created #Tapasnovel, made by a Tapas novel writer @rewashington, and #WritingCommunity. WritingCommunity isn't for promoting, but connecting with other writers so be careful not to spam.

(I didn't mention @rewashington to make this point, but it made me realize that mentioning them is thanks to both tags and this forum. See my point? Their name is getting around and hopefully, someone gets curious and clicks on their profile and novel.)

Lastly:
Post weekly
Connect with your readers
Talk to other writers
Enjoy the ride

If you love your story others will too. You show your love by talking about it, and sharing it.

Hope this helps

[Maps]

This was a really thoughtful and informative post! Thank you!

I definitely agree about the forums, I realized it does help to promote here. And I also got to know the community from being on here. It’s super nice to connect and discuss all of our similar interests and experiences even if we don’t look at each others’ work :).

I did recently make a new tumblr (I didn’t want to start promoting off my personal since I’ve had it since ‘09 and don’t want to bother my followers). I’m hoping to follow some writing and drawing blogs and post my work as well. I appreciate the advice for tagging.

[iclryu]

No problem! Glad I could help

[VyStarlit]

Oh wow! Thank you so much for the mention. I agree with you, especially those last points. Post weekly, connect with readers and other writers, and enjoy what you do.